Wolf at Hogwarts
by peridxt
Summary: Kakashi gets sent to Hogwarts as ANBU to protect Harry, while at the same time Iruka is sent to be a guest teacher. And if Kakashi has a bit of a thing for Iruka that's his business. Pre KakaIru, past KakaObi. Incomplete & abandoned.
1. Chapter 1

"That covers your debriefing, Ookami-sensei. I shall transport you to the sensei's office now."

Raccoon hooked her arm around Kakashi's and they disappeared in a puff of smoke. The reappeared in the headmaster's office, right in the middle of a meeting, apparently. The two in the room stared at them, making the female ANBU uncomfortable. Raccoon fidgeted self-consciously and Kakashi felt a twitch of amusement at her distress, but took pity on her. Speaking in Konoha's language, he said

"Thank you, Araiguma-san." Raccoon went still as soon as he started talking into the silence. He could almost feel her blushing behind her painted mask and grinned behind his. She managed to stammer out a reply.

"Of course, Ookami-sama have all h-heard of you. And of course, the c-copy nin as well. I-it was a p-pleasure." They bowed to each other awkwardly in the small space, and Raccoon disappeared in a puff of smoke and leaves. Only when she was gone did Wolf turn to the others in the room. A man with a long white beard looked at him with twinkling eyes and said in English, "I presume you are the infamous Kakashi Hatake.

"Hai sensei, but while I wear this mask my name is Wolf."

"Of course."

He gave introductions, pointing to the other two in the room in turn.

"I am Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of this school. This is Professor Severus Snape, the teacher of the Potions class." The two looked each other in the eye without saying anything. Kakashi broke the silence, turning back to the headmaster and said, "I was wondering,

Dumbledore-sensei. I was informed there was a teacher here this year by the name of Iruka Umino?" Dumbledore gave him a knowing look over his spectacles and smiled.

"Yes, he's going to teach for the year. Do you know him?"  
Kakashi hesitated. He was hoping to catch a glimpse of the academy teacher, he had to admit. Kakashi had some unrequited feelings of the love variety for the chuunin, which would all in all, Hatake reasoned, only result in both of them getting hurt. Mostly himself.

"...Hai," He answered reluctantly. The chuunin had never really taken to the lazy copy nin most of Konoha knew, and hated Kakashi-sensei, the leader of team seven. Mostly because of the fight they had.

Dumbledore looked at him, but said nothing else on the subject.

"..Where will I be staying during my mission, Headmaster?"-sensei' Kakashi had to bite his tongue not to add the honorific. He may speak flawless English, but could barely resist mixing pieces of his tongue in. Other than that, he spoke without even the slight touch of an accent. Or so his teacher had told him.

"Well, as you know, you are going to watch over a student by the name of Harry Potter. First you'll meet him and he'll be informed of your position as his bodyguard. Professor McGonagoll will tell you where to go from there. You'll most likely be in the Gryffindor commons. Severus?" The teacher nodded tightly and swept out of the room, and Kakashi could only follow.

Snape was obviously trying to walk faster than the ANBU but it didn't work, as Kakashi had to pace himself beside and slightly behind so as not to walk ahead of the man. He glimpsed masses of what he assumed to be students chattering and walking through doors into what looked like another huge room. Snape pushed him into a small room with a burning fire that looked to be an office. There were three people in the room, who had sopped talking when thy came in. There was a young girl with tousled brown hair, a boy with mussed black hair with glasses and a small jagged scar on his forehead. Behind the desk sat a strict-looking woman.

"Here he is." Severus growled, shutting the door. The woman looked at him from behind her square glasses. Kami, does everyone wear glasses here?

"Are you the man Albus was talking about?"  
"I don't know, Oujo-san. I was assigned to protect someone." He dipped his head in a small bow of respect. The lady nodded.

"Then you are. I'm Professor McGonagall, the head of Gryffindor house. This is Harry Potter," She pointed to the boy, "and Hermione Granger." He bowed again and replied.

"It's a pleasure. I am... Wolf." He nearly said Ookami, and bit his tongue again. There was an uncomfortable pause where they looked at him, waiting for him to explain. When he didn't, the professor continued.

"Harry Potter is who you're assigned to protect... Wolf."

The boy rose at that. "I don't need a babysitter!" He objected, and Kakashi replied in a quiet, deadly voice.

"Not babysitter. Bodyguard. And trust me, I'm not happy either to find out the S-ranked mission I got dragged back into service for is protecting some bratty kid for a year."

The room was quite, and Harry flushed red in indignation. Hermione's lips twitched slightly in a grimace. The professor glared at them both and proceeded to tell Harry off.

"After what happened last year, we felt it necessary to hire someone to protect you. And especially after that incident on the train. You'll have to learn to live with it. Now, Wolf," She turned her withering gaze onto the man, "You'll follow Harry for the rest of the year. Make sure he doesn't get hurt or into trouble. You can sleep in the Gryffindor common room. That's about it."

Wolf nodded in understanding, and she told Harry to wait outside while she talked to Hermione about something and then they would go to the feast together. Harry mumbled an answer and pushed past his guard to the door. Kakashi followed him, shutting the door softly. Harry leaned up against the wall, grumbling angrily, and Hatake stood next to him in his usual bodyguard stance. Harry glared at him, and he ignored it. There were footsteps approaching briskly, an just as the boy opened his mouth to say something undoubtedly scathing, a man's voice exclaimed "ANBU-sama? What are you doing here?"

The soldier in question looked to see who the speaker was, and found himself face to face with none other than Umino Iruka himself. Awe leaked into his voice as he continued speaking in English.

"And Ookami-sensei, of all of them." Kakashi blushed and kept his voice neutral, saying in the guarded tone of a shinobi in mission mode, "Standing, Umino-sensei. And that would be wolf in this language, sensei." He emphasized the last word and Iruka blushed slightly and rubbed the scar marring his face.

"Don't sensei me, ANBU-sama. I know that. And also, if anyone deserves the title it's you. Everyone knows what you've done for Konoha."  
"Everyone must, if even a chuunin does," Kakashi quipped and the teacher's face went pink. "I wasn't aware our hero was such a jerk."

Kakashi chuckled. "Comes with the territory." Iruka snorted and Kakashi continued in a more friendly tone, "Maa, all jokes aside, it's nice to know someone else from Konohagakure is here."

"...Yeah. Well, Ookami-sensei, I must be going." Iruka turned to leave but the ANBU spoke before he had the chance.

"Umino-san, seeing as how we are brothers here, you may call me Ookami."

Iruka paused, his back against the two leaning on the wall.

"...Call me Iruka." Before Iruka could walk off again, Kakashi interrupted in a lewd tone, "You can always call me nii-san, nii-chan." He chuckled as a kunai buried itself into the wall next to his shoulder. He tossed it back to the teacher, who caught it and span it by the ring a few times before slipping it back into his pocket.

"Love you too, nii-chan~"

"Next time I won't miss." Iruka threatened and Kakashi laughed as the teacher walked away to the feast. He felt eyes on him, and turned to see his charge staring at him. Just then, the door to the office opened and the two women stepped out.

"Shall we?" The professor asked and they trailed after her to the feast.

The feast was awkward, to say the least. The Great Hall was filled with whispers and off looks, all directed at the foreigner. Hatake ignored it, assuring himself they'd get used to his presence in time. Harry did his best to ignore him, willing him to not exist. Kakashi was slightly amused when the Weasley boy tried to ask but Hermione had frantically gestured to him it was a bad idea. Dumbledore had made only a small mention of him, saying he was at the school to prevent a repeat of last year. His tone said clearly that was all he was going to say on the matter. After the feast was over, the four trailed their way back to the Gryffindor tower with the rest of the group. All of the students made their way up to their dormitories, and the common room was quiet at last. Kakashi pulled the mask off his face when he had made sure he was alone. He sighed and absently trailed a finger down the scar over Obito's eye.

"Ah, Obito. If I was in Konoha I would be visiting you right now. But I'm here, so I'll just have to make do with talking into the wind." He paused, wondering what he should say. All he could think of was

"Obito, what have I gotten myself into?"


	2. Chapter 2

When Harry and his friends woke up the next day, most of the Gryffindors had already left for breakfast. Kakashi was kicking back in a huge puffy armchair, absent-mindedly cleaning his kunai. His last mission had been a hunt for missing-nin, and he hadn't had a chance to wipe the blood off his weapons. It had turned out the traitor had friends.

Had.

He knew the trio was there before they spoke, even though his back was to them. They greeted each other and started chatting, but stopped when Kakashi shifted in his seat. He stood up and chuckled at the children's dubious expressions. He must have been quite a sight in his ANBU uniform, red snarling wolf mask, and holding kunai in one hand and bloody cloth in the other. He twirled the knives on his fingers, sliding them back into their pouch along with the cleaning rag he had been using.

"Good morning, Potter-kun, Weasley-kun, Granger-san." Ron and Hermione murmured replies but Harry pretended not to hear. They walked to the Great hall to find all the Slytherins laughing at a story being told by a short, blond, mean-looking third year.

"Malfoy," Harry snarled under his breath, glaring at the boy in question. Malfoy immediately yelled taunts over at Harry, while Hermione told him to just ignore it. A cold glare from behind his mask shut the boy up. The kids sat down at the Gryffindor tale, and Kakashi slouched behind them. Harry took his schedule from George and fell into conversation with his friends. For something to do, he pulled out one of his Icha Icha books. As soon as he had opened it, he heard a familiar voice say, "Back to your old ways, ne?" Kakashi answered without looking up.

"I read it for the plot."  
"I'm sure. If we were in Konoha it would be rather obvious as to who you are."  
"Well then, good thing we're not in Konoha." He paused to turn the page. "Everyone knows anyway."  
"Your genin team doesn't."  
"There's some things you don't tell people. Being part of an undercover military group where secrecy is so strict everyone is given animal masks and code-names and you don't know who anyone really is but the Hokage is one of them."

"Ah, but you don't have to tell them your animal."  
"You say all this about me, but you seem to be later than I, Iruka."  
The copy-nin looked up at the teacher with a grin behind his mask, and the chuunin went slightly pink and started walking towards the table at the front.

"We'll see about that, Ookami. See you in class."

Kakashi grinned again and watched the nin take his seat. At least he hadn't called him Hatake. He looked back down at his book, but was interrupted before he could start reading.

"You know the new teacher?"  
He looked over to see Ron addressing him.

"Hai. We come from the same town."  
The kid looked at him appraisingly, then his eyes widened.

"Is that a tattoo?" Kakashi smiled wryly.  
"Hai. It is the mark of the ANBU."  
Others close to them were looking over at Kakashi now. Hermione was looking at him curiously and then asked, "What's the ANBU?"  
"In this language it means," He took a second to translate it from his language to English, "Special Assassination and Tactical Squad."

A few kids sucked in surprised breaths and the soldier almost snorted. Did they think he waited tables in this uniform?

"..What's your name?" Ron asked, and Kakashi remembered they hadn't been introduced.

"I can't tell you my real name, but my codename in the ANBU translates to Wolf, so you can call me that."

Ron nodded, and just as he was about to speak, a huge man wearing a moleskin overcoat and swinging a dead polecat in one hand walked up.

"All righ'? Yer in my firs' ever lesson! Righ' after lunch!" He hesitated, looking at Kakashi's painted mask warily and said, "'Oos this now? I'm Hagrid."

"Wolf. Nice to meet you Hagrid-san."

Comprehension dawned on the man's face as they shook hands.  
"Oh, yer that guard feller Dumbledore was talkin' about. Nice to meet ya."

He turned back to Harry with a grin. "Well,see ya at my lesson, 'Arry." He turned and walked toward the staff tale. The hall was rather empty as the students filtered out to go to their first class. His charges stood and Ron looked down at the schedule clutched in his hands.

"We'd better go. Look, Divination's at the top of the North Tower. It'll take us ten minutes to get there.."

After triapsing around for a while, getting lost, and having an unfortunate encounter with a less than stable painting of a knight, they got to the top of the North Tower. Then they had to go up through a trapdoor.

Kakashi hates trapdoors.  
The classroom was not at all like the Academy. It was more like an attic where you would go to get your fortune told by some woman who charges way too much to tell you what you want to hear. It was also stifling, with some horrible sickly sweet perfume that made his sensitive nose burn, eyes water, and left a bad taste in his mouth.

Kakashi hates perfume.  
The students all grouped together, talking in whispers and wondering where the teacher was, because she certainly wasn't here. A vague, misty voice came from the shadows, saying some mystical thing or another, but no one could hear it anyway because the ANBU had a coughing fit. He rubbed his throat worriedly, hoping that stuff wouldn't hang around on his uniform once they left.

He looked up to see the professor looking angrily at him, more than a little miffed at the interruption. There were a few snickers here and there that were emboldened when the guard only glared back

It's her fault, anyway. She shouldn't put all that incense and perfume in there if doesn't want people to choke.

Seriously though how did anyone breath in that smoke? Kakashi felt like he was going to die from the fumes.

Getting back to the point, the teacher gave him a tight-lipped glare and continued.

"You all might as well sit down," and it was obvious he had ruined her dramatic and mystical entrance. She went on to tell them all about the mysterious things they would be doing, but Kakashi tuned her out. Everyone got teapots and sat down around the tables in pairs. Harry and Ron paired up and followed the professor's instructions until they were staring down at the tea leaves in one another's cups. They were trying to guess at what animal shape was in Harry's when the teacher swooped in and plucked it out of Weasely's hands. Apparently the goopy mush looked maybe slightly but probably not like a bunch of different random shapes, which foretold an attack, an enemy, danger...and then she shrieked and and pretended to swoon as though she had seen a ghost.

Kakashi rolled his eyes at the theatrics.

The smooshy lopsided green blob apparently was a perfect copy for a large dog (news to everyone else who had seen the cup) and that was an omen...

 _an omen..._

 _OF DEATH!_

The shinobi let out a loud snort at that, and the teacher whipped her head around to glare at him before going back to her audience. Hermione told her off, and that was that. After that, they hurried to Transfiguration, where Professor McGonagoll explained Trelawney - the Divination teacher - foretells a death every year. Hary fretted about anyway, saying he had seen a dog - a black dog!

 _(OH DEAR KAMI NO!)_

Which of course means he'll die soon. Hermione was the only sensible one, but she was superior about it, so she ended up storming off angrily.

After lunch, they went to Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class. First, the instructor had to explain about their books (intriguing, if a little creepy) and that Malfoy kid kept making snide comments. The ANBU glared at him angrily, and he reflexively flinched.  
"You don't scare me, foreigner!" He shouted, once he had regained his self-confidence.  
"We'll see about that when you have a knife in your neck."

Harry and Ron looked at him wide-eyed, then back at Draco. Malfoy gave him a poisonous look and subsided, but Kakashi could see the fear in his eyes. A girl squealed, and everyone turned to see the strangest animals coming towards them. They had the bodies, hind legs, and and tails of horses, but the front legs, heads, and wings of eagles with burning orange eyes. They had half foot talons on their front feet, and each had a thick collar attached to a chain, whish were held secure in Hagrid's hand. Hagrid tethered them to the fence and they snapped their steel gray beaks and fluttered their wings, irritated.

They looked like danger.

Kakashi loved them.

Hagrid asked for a volunteer and the students shrunk away from the idea, looking frightened. To the shinobi, it looked like fun. He stepped forward, grinning like an idiot behind his mask, and Hagrid smiled at him happily.

"Well then - Wolf was it? We'll see 'ow yeh do with Buckbeak 'ere." He untied one of the chains and pulled the gray one away from the others and slipped off its leather collar. Wolf climbed into the paddock unafraid. Hagrid murmured instructions, but Kakashi didn't hear them.

He knew what to do.

He stood straight, looking the hippogriff dead in it's fierce eyes. They stared at each other for a few seconds, then Kakashi bent down into a deep bow, like the one he was was supposed to give the Hokage. He stood back up and Buckbeak eyed him. Slowly, the hippogriff bent it's scaly front knees into a low bow in response. He strolled up to the animal and stroked its soft feather repeatedly, and murmured low to it in his native tongue, ' _may the skies be clear and the game easy when you hunt, winged one_ '.

Buckbeak closed its eyes, and Kakashi wouldn't be surprised if it started purring. There was a sound from behind him and he glanced back to see the class applauding him loudly, while some just stared.

Hagrid said something about riding him, and Hatake was giddy at the idea. He easily mounted the animal and adjusted to sit right behind the wing joint. He heard Hagrid roar something, and the he was in the air. The hippogriff beat his wings and soared upwards, while Kakashi felt the drag pulling him backwards. The shinobi quickly wrapped his arms around Buckbeak's neck, knowing the glossy feathers would be impossible to grip. They flew once, twice around the paddock and then dove for a landing. Buckbeak dipped forward and Kakashi nearly lost hold.

Before he knew it, they were back on the ground. Kakashi blinked, slid off, and once his feet were steadily on the ground again, most of the kids cheered. That was much more fund than what he had expected. Hagrid congratulated him and clapped him on the back as he walked out of the paddock giddily. After that, the rest of the class was eager to ride. Malfoy boasted about how easy it was, then insulted his hippogriff.

Loudly.

In a flash, Malfoy was on the ground, shrieking like his legs had been cut off, as Hagrid wrestled Malfoy's hippogriff back into its collar. Draco yelled out he was dyying and Kakashi went over and stood over him irritably.

"Kami you little brat you're not dying." The soldier knelt down and inspected the screaming child. There was a long deep gash on his arm.

Far from fatally wounding.

"Kami," Kakashi growled as he lifted the kid to his feet, "I've seen students get worse in kunai throwing practice. Melodramatic gaki." He passed Malfoy off to Hagrid.

"Take him to see nurse. He'll be fine."  
Hagrid looked relieved, and strode away quickly towards the castle. Shaken, the students followed. The Slytherins badmouthed Hagrid all the way, and the two houses parted ways once they got to the school. Ron was watching the guard with awe.

"That was bloody brilliant! What with riding the hippogriff and telling Malfoy off and all." Kakashi half smiled.

"Thank you, Weasley-kun."  
Hermione was looking at her schedule. "We still have one more class. It's with the new teacher. It doesn't say what he's teaching though..." Kakashi chuckled.  
"With Iruka as your teacher, you'll be fine. Just don't try and pull anything, or you'll get a shuriken thrown to your head." The kids exchanged looks at this statement, and didn't answer.

The four of them walked into Iruka's new classroom five minutes late because Ron's terrible instructions got them lost until Hermione saved them. The trio was greeted by a piece of chalk to the head each. Iruka looked ready to lecture them thoroughly until the copy-nin walked in behind them. When he saw that Kakashi was with them, he just heaved a resigned sigh. Harry, Ron, and Hermione all meekly found seats at the back but Kakashi stood in the doorway smugly. Iruka looked at the ANBU. The crimson wolf mask was just begging him to say it.

"You know you want to..."

Iruka sighed again.

"You're late, Hatake-kun." Iruka could feel his smug smile behind the porcelain.

"Maa, Iruka-sensei, I would have been on time, only I had to catch a feral raccoon that was abusing my charges and disturbing the peace. You know how tricky they can be. It was an A ranked mission - maybe even an S." Iruka rolled his eyes At Kakashi's emphatic speech.

"I'm sure." Kakashi comfortingly took Iruka's hand in his and said, speaking with the deepest and most sincere regret.

"Oh, Iruka-sensei, I'm terribly sorry, as I would love to attend your no doubt riveting lesson, but I must go to see the Headmaster. It's urgent."  
"When, two hours ago?"  
"About." Kakashi was about to leave, but Iruka stopped him.

"What, no window exit?"  
"These ones don't open." Iruka could hear the genuine sadness in his voice, and snorted.  
"I guess they don't want people jumping in and out of them for dramatic entrances and exits."  
"But why would they be so cruel.."  
"Any plausible reason escapes me, Hatake. Goodbye."  
"Ciao, Umino."

Once the copy nin was gone, Iruka sighed again and scrubbed a hand through his hair and muttered to himself in Konoha's language.

"Stupid jounin."


	3. Chapter 3

"Dumbledore-sensei. You needed me."

Kakashi enjoyed seeing Snape jolt at the unexpected voice behind him. Dumbledore just looked at him over his spectacles.

"Yes, I do."

Snape reluctantly stepped to the side to allow Kakashi to stand in front of the desk as well. The copy nin bent his head and neck forward, restraining from a full out bow.

"Now then, Wolf. How are you doing with Harry?"

Kakashi twitched slightly. He hated informality when it came to missions.

"Ah, yes. Full mission report, then, ANBU Wolf."

Kakashi nodded slightly to himself and summarized the day. If the Headmaster wanted more detail, he could ask for it.

"Good. Now then, I needed to tell you something I forgot to tell you before."

Kakashi stiffened.

"I've set guards around the school, for extra protection. They're not exactly...human though, and I thought you should be warned in case you encounter them."  
"What are they then, sir?" Kakashi's voice was tight.  
"Dementors."  
"..."

Kakashi didn't want to admit he had no idea what in the world they man was talking about.

"Oh yes, you don't know much about our world. Dementors are creatures of darkness, that feed off despair and hopelessness. They suck the happiness and warmth from the air around it and anything else unfortunate enough to be near, including people. If you get close, you'll feel cold and as if you'll never be happy again."

Kakashi snorted at that before he could stop himself. Dumbledore looked seriously at him, but didn't comment. He could probably guess at what the soldier was thinking.

'Not all that diffucult, I'm not happy to begin with.'

"So that you're prepared for when you meet one, which you probably will at some point, I'm going to show you one right now."  
Kakashi swallowed, but said nothing. Dumbledore told him and Snape to follow him, and they walked through the castle halls until they got to the entrance gates. Standing there in the twilight, were two tall, ghoul-like figures, draped in tattered black cloth.

As they approached, Kakashi felt worse and worse. When they got close enough, once their breath caught and crystallized in the air and the chill was freezing his bones, the one closest turned to face him.

Kakashi jolted, trying not to step back, and ended up gripping Severus Snape's shoulder. His grip tightened as he stared at the creature, drawing in and letting out deep, ragged, shuddering breathes.

And out of nowhere, voices and sounds were screaming in his ears, fighting to be heard over the others simultaneously.

Rin sobbing, trying to be strong. "We'll have to operate..."

Obito, dying. "Take it, 'Kashi. I won't need it where I'm going."  
"It'll be okay. Don't worry, 'Kashi."  
"Take care of Rin."

Overheard strangers in the village.  
"He's a disgrace. Just like his father."

His father when he killed himself.  
"..'Akashi..Goobye..."

Minato.  
"Hey kid, it's gonna be okay. We'll protect our village from the fox."  
"Remember my son as a hero, 'Kashi."

He leaned on Snape heavily as his vision starting to flicker. He slumped unsconcious against Severus's shoulder and the last thing he heard was Obito's breathless whisper of his last words.

"Love you, 'Kashi."

His mask was off.

As soon as he registered this thought, his eye flew open and his hand jerked up to run through his tightly ponytailed hair.

He heard something thump and looked wildly around to see what had happened. Professor McGonagall was in the room now, too, and had dropped the book she was holding. Snape looked a little rumpled, himself. Kakashi faced the the desk and Dumbledore just looked at him over his spectacles again.

"How are you feeling, Wolf?"

"I am restored to full health, I assure you, Headmaster." Kakashi's voice was stiff and pushed off his chair and snapped back up into a military salute. Dumbledore eyed him skeptically.

"While you were unconscious, you spoke a name. Would you explain it's importance?"  
"What was the name?"  
"I believe it was, 'Obito.' Does that hold any signifigance to you, ANBU Wolf?"  
Kakashi felt himself turn a few degrees paler.

"Not..to ANBU Wolf."  
"I see. And what of Hatake Kakashi?"  
"To Hatake Kakashi he is.." He pondered what to say, but didn't know how much he wanted to reveal. ".. A fallen comrade, and a good friend."  
"A good friend now he's dead, or when he was alive?"  
Kakashi didn't answer.

"Yes, I thought so." Dumbledore gave him a strange look, as if considering if he should say something or not. He decided to say it.

"Just friends?"  
Kakashi's spine stiffened noticeably, and if he thought it possible he would say he paled even more. He heard a small gasp from McGonagall and a scoff from Snape, but looked straight ahead steadfastedly, eyes fixed in front of him.

"No."  
"I see."  
"Anything else, sir?"  
"No."

Kakashi picked up his mask from were it had been set neatly on the desk and set it over his features. He barely restrained from letting out a sigh of relief at the security and anonyminity of it.

Dumbledore readjusted his spectacles, glanced down at the papers scattered haphazardly across the desk, and back up at Wolf.

"Now, you should get back to your charges. They should be in their common rooms by now. Come back tomorrow and we'll talk more about the dementors."

Kakashi bowed and left, studiously avoiding the searching eyes of the two professors.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: This is disjointed from the rest of the story but is a part I wrote and intended to work into the story later (which isn't going to happen since I'm not writing it anymore). Dialogue written within asterisks *like this* is in Japanese.

* * *

What did he fear? You might say being rejecting by Iruka. Or losing his genin team. Or losing Iruka. Or seeing Konoha burn. And you would be right. He was deathly afraid of all of those things. But there was one thing he was even more afraid of.

He was afraid that Obito blamed Kakashi for his death. The Hatake sure did. Hearing it from his dead lover's lips and in his voice would make it just that much more real.

So when professor Lupin said the animal they were working with today changed into your worst fear, Kakashi slipped, unnoticed, as far away from the wardrobe as possible. Iruka was in the class as well, since he didn't have a class and he and Lupin were buddies or something. Kakashi couldn't wait to find out what _his_ fear was, though.

So Lupin-san opened the door, the thing flew out, and it began. The students were having fun, it seemed, confrontong their worst nightmares. Good for them.  
The little shits.

As careful as he had been to be at the _opposite_ side of the room from the boggart, when his back was turned he heard Obito's voice ring out in his native tongue.

"*Hey.*" Kakashi froze, didn't dare look over his shoulder. Obito's voice sounded annoyed as he said "*Look over here when I'm talking to you, 'Kashi.*"

He turned around slowly, stiffly, and tried to look anywhere but the man standing in front of him. He failed. He was hard to miss, his bright orange goggles on (cracked) and blood seeping from his nose and mouth. Oh, and the huge gaping hole where his left eye used to be.

"*Your fault ya know.*" Kakashi stopped breathing and went completely still.

"*Thought I was your friend, yeah? Apparently not.*" Oh man. This... this was so mmuch worse than he had imagined.

Because it was really happening.

"*Your _arrogance_ cost us the mission. And my life.*" A tremor went down Kakashi's spine and he looked down at the floor.

"*Broke your promise too. Rin's dead. Smooth, Hatake. Now you've not only broken your word and your katana, you've also broken my entire body. Thanks, _friend_.*"

He couldn't even defend himself, because it's true.

Hands on his shoulder and someone was pulling him from where he stood. He blinked. It was Iruka.

"*Sorry, Iruka. Thanks.*" Iruka grimaced. He reached to remove Kakashi's mask but a hand gripping his wrist like a vice stoped him.

"That's illegal, Iruka."  
"I already know who are."

"Maa, but the law doesn't bend, 'Ruka-chan, even for a pretty face like yours." Iruka looked like he really wanted to slap him, but he settled for a murderous glare instead.

"Aah, if looks could kill..."  
"Don't," Iruka growled, "Call me '-chan'."  
"You wound me. Iruka-chan."

Iruka brought a hand straight across Kakashi's face, albeit there was a layer of porcelain between. Kakashi's head didn't jerk around, or even flinch.

"Iruka-chan you will break the porcelain. And then where would we be? An injured ANBU without his mask and a school teacher who abused thst ANBU. If I was cruel, I would say something about Miyuzuki, Kyuubi, or Naruto. But I respect you. Walk away, Umino."

Iruka was angry, but saw the truth in those words. Instead of striking Kakashi again, he just growled "Just don't act like I'm Tenzou and I'll allow myself to be 'kouhai-ed and idolize a disgrace." Iruka turned to leave but Kakshi grabbed his wrist, gripping it so hard it hurt, and jerked Umino's face back to him. He ground out "I Respect Tenzou. Tenzou Respects Me. That Is Something That Happens When You Work Together In Life-threatening Situations. And," He jerked Iruka closer, " _never_ call me a disgrace."

"Why the *fuck* not?" Iruka bit out and Kakashi snarled at him while slowly twisting the schoolteacher's wrist.

"Hatake Sakumo was a disgrace. The entirety of Konohagakure agrees with this. That is why he killed himself. Because he could Not Handle being faced with the truth of his own actions. He was a disgrace. I am not him. I Am Not Hatake Sakumo."

"Why don't you call your father dad like evryeone else?" Iruka's wrist was hurting badly but he couldn't back down now. Kakshi snarled wordlessly and spoke again, visibly trying to stop himself from hurting Iruka severely.

"That man is not my father. All I have inherited from him is a face and a name. A face I can't even look at in the fucking mirror, thanks to him. The only good thing I could have gotten from him was respect for the family name. And he ruined that in his fit of 'compassion'." Iruka would have felt bad for him, but they where both caught up in the heat of the fight.

"You can't even look at yourself in the mirror? No wonder your friend thought you where pathetic. It was pretty sad he couldn't even save himself from you."

"Don't. Insult. Uchiha. Obito. In. Front. Of. Me." There was a snap and they both froze. Iruka dropped to his knees without warning.

"Hatake you bastard! You broke my wrist!"  
"You can set it your fucking self. Even Naruto was able to push his wrist back into place. But then again, he's so weak Kyuubi probably had to do it for him."  
"You want to fucking go, Hatake?"  
"Bring it on, Umino."

* * *

After the Boggart Incident, no one talked about anything except the mysterious guard. He showed up as usual, as if nothing had happened. The only difference is he was more silent and distant than he had been before. There was also talk of the relationship between the guard and the new teacher. Iruka-sensei was the only one, other than the bodyguard himself, who knew what had been said.

As Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked through the halls to breakfast, people would whisper and point at the man trailing quietly behind them. They sat down and ate in silence, no one speaking a word. All the four tables where whispering quietly while the trio ate. A girl, a first year, was pushed off the bench by her friends and she walked nervously up to Kakashi. He glanced at her, then looked away. "Um." She started, trying to think of what to say. "Um, Mister Wolf, what happened?" Mr. Wolf said nothing, then finally, "I got what I deserved." The girl had a blank look on her face and continued, " Mister Wolf, was that your friend?" "...yes. He is. Or rather... was." Another cryptic answer. "Is Mister 'Ruka-sensei your friend too?" Hatake snorted. So he had those kids calling him Iruka-sensei. Or rather, 'Ruka-sensei. Adorable, and amusing.

"No. Umino-sensei is rather... opionated on the subject of my character." The girl looked up into the Wolf's face, staring straight into his eyes unflinchingly with huge brown puppy dog eyes and then asked, "Mister Wolf, are you okay?" That gave him pause. "..No." That was the most honest he said to the girl. She pouted slightly, upset by his answer. She hugged the startled ANBU, squeezing his torso comfortingly, then pulled away and said, before she scampered back to her friends, "Then get better." Kakashi sighed quietly, looking down at the floor sadly. He whispered in a broken voice, "I've tried." He shifted his weight and looked back up to see everyone staring at him, and you could hear a pin drop. He felt his cheeks flush in embarrassment behind his mask. Even at the long table at the front, Umino was looking at him sadly. He looked back at his charge, who pushed the person sitting next to him over and offered the bodyguard the seat again. This time he took it gratefully.


End file.
